Anna Kolosova

CV

I consider myself a painter, as everything I make remains somewhat ‘painterly’. However, I see my paintings as self-contained objects, even if they are paper-thin. I am evolving from the concept of the Combine once introduced by Robert Rauschenberg. I push the boundaries between painting and other things, be it sculpture, performance, or every-day life. For example, I use real people as ready-mades in my series of Live Combines, where they get chained to my paintings physically.

My work features my own personal experiences and feelings. I am very present in my work – mentally, and also physically. I make the pieces human-size to be able to handle them manually – I love having this perfect close relationship between the objects and me, where I can manipulate them freely without any machinery or having an easel, climbing a ladder, etc. I enjoy being in control. I would place the pieces on the floor, then later on decide to hang them on the wall, and vice-versa. I practically make an involuntary performance out of it, dancing around to music, spraying paint, and writing random bits of text that come to mind. I would kiss them, grab them, hit them, stroke them, suspend them… I favour my paintings to be human-size, or close to that, to reveal the emotion by means of the most obvious way of 'action painting' process, to add to the final image.

I use a lot of colour in most of my works due to the way I express myself, and also because I have Synaesthesia. The latter ‘condition’ allows me to ‘see’ any experiences, numbers, music, text or smells in colour. In specific projects, such as the Synaesthetic Action Painting, I explored it by trying to directly respond to sound and paint it live. However, in most of my work I just let it enrich the processes by dictating me the colours or shapes I would apply.

I enjoy creating raw, synthetic ‘deliciousness’ by clashing materials of high and low cultures together. I use humble materials for it, such as wood, foil, paper, cheap paint and found scraps of things, combining them with glamorous items, such as golden chains, bought fabrics, ready-made objects, etc. It is important to know that aesthetics mean everything to me, as much does the context, in which the work is shown in.

Education:

MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London (2014)